PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF THE COMPLICATIONS OF DIABETES-MELLITUS

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease characterized by hyperglycemia and by complications that include microvascular disease of the eye and kidney and a variety of clinical neuropathies.1 Although diabetes is also associated with premature macrovascular disease, this review is limited to a discussion of retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. The pathophysiology of these complications of diabetes was recently reviewed in the Journal.1 The specific association of microvascular disease and neuropathy with diabetes and the relation of the two complications to the duration of diabetes suggest that they are linked to hyperglycemia or a concomitant metabolic abnormality. The Diabetes Control and Complications. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.